'Manchester,' 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land' honored by NYFCC

'La La Land,' with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, was among the films celebrated at the New York Film Critics Circle gala

(LIONSGATE)

Like the movies it celebrated, this year's New York Film Critics Circle awards were low-key and small-scale.

Yes, the environs - Manhattan's multi-level Tao Downtown - were still plush. The red carpet quickly became a busy catwalk, and once past it members and invited guests sipped cocktails and dined on sushi and steak.

But the honored performers were indie stars and quiet veterans, and the speeches - while occasionally political - tended to be self-deprecating and eager to proclaim a truce between reviewers and the reviewed.

"You're not afraid to tell me what you think of me when I'm winning and when I'm losing," best-supporting actress Michelle Williams told the roomful of critics. "Tonight, I'm just really happy and exhausted and relieved to be nothing but at home."

"I've been singled out by this organization before in a less flattering way," admitted her "Manchester by the Sea" co-star, best-actor winner Casey Affleck - who had brought the clips to prove it. "But you got to take your lumps, you know, if you're going to enjoy the sugar."

And there were plenty of sweet words to go around, honoring a number of the year's finest films.

Affleck and Williams' film won a best-screenplay prize, too, but the cast and crew of "Moonlight" were honored as well, with Mahershala Ali getting the best-supporting actor honor, James Laxton getting a nod for best cinematography and Barry Jenkins taking home the best-director prize.

Meanwhile, "La La Land" - the nearest thing to a feel-good movie among the mostly downbeat winners - was given the best-picture prize, picked up by director and Princeton High School grad Damien Chazelle, who fondly remembered teenage years taking the train into the city, to hit arthouses and repertory screenings.

But while it was a night for celebrating cinema, politics, of course, were never far from the stage.

This year's chair, David Edelstein of New York magazine, often glumly referred to the 2016 election and its aftermath; Trevor Noah, on hand to present the best-documentary prize to "O.J: Made in America," described the film as an epic story that touched on "so many themes - domestic abuse, police brutality, obsession with fame, race relations."

There were moments of glamour, of course, many of them provided by the French star Isabelle Huppert, a best-actress winner for "Elle" and "Things to Come." And old-school show-biz shtick, too, courtesy of Robert Klein, who turned his presentation of the best-animated-film award to "Zootopia" into a quick, and hilarious run-down of his own not-so-wonderful film credits.

"I made love to Joan Rivers," he cracked, remembering the unmemorable "Goosed." "For the orgasm, we brought in a stuntman."

But mostly, the night was made up of quieter, more unguarded moments, like "Krisha" director Trey Edward Shults, the winner of a best-first-feature prize, confessing he made his film for a miniscule $30,000. Or Williams remembering her first New York apartment, with a bathtub in the kitchen.

Or the sort of shout-outs that only a true cinephile would make. Like Chazelle praising the great silent-movie romance, "Seventh Heaven." Huppert invoking the Circle's first best-actress winner, Greta Garbo.

And the entire room jumping to its feet for the evening's sole standing ovation - a warm wave of praise for special-award recipient Thelma Schoonmaker, the legendary editor whose work on Martin Scorsese's "Silence" marks her 50th year in films.

At times like those, the awards ceremony - the organization's 82nd - seemed less like a gala than a particularly large dinner party, attended by fond and like-minded friends. It was unforced, unrehearsed and at ease - that last move undoubtedly helped along by the several open bars, and absolute lack of television cameras.

But now the awards season begins in earnest. And for all the night's guests, the tensions - and the stakes - are about to grow exponentially.